Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-02-19

one Night oT naTIrpw stairs. then stopping
low. we passed under narrow arChway
reserved in the foundations of the house.
then down another flight Of stairs, then
through another archway, along "A tortu-
on, passage, and 81 to a tunnel about
seven feet high. five feet broad. and twenty
feet long. The vault of the roof was Gov
cred. with green trelliSwork: there were
benches and rush stools to sit upon ;
wooden tables hearing the marks of strife;
and, 10 light ns, two gas Jets We were
here at the very end of the mouse trap,
and We now understood why the police
never enter these ''caVeauN is no
possibility Of a fair fight.
When we entered the 'caveaun there
was nobody there, but after we had
ordered some wine two musicians came
in. The one was a miserably pale fellow
half starved and half blind. with thin
blonde mustache. He sang and accom-
panied himself by striking few chords
on a guitar. The other was short, bony
man. with black beard. drunken blue
eyes. round shoulders and an appearance
Of humility, as il he were constantly afraid
of receiving kicks He sang in turn,
strumming on single bass chord, The
tip given by some watcher soon brought
four other vistors-a burly ruffian, who
wore huge red feZ rising eighteen inches
above his crown; q Young man wearing a
thin cotton blouse and two Others dressed
in cast off clothes of fashionable cut, but
without vestige of linen. The humble
musician sang. above all things, an air
from "Mignon. keeping his eyes fixed on
the ground aS he sang and pointing To his
heart with an awkward gesture whene er
the word heart occurred in the ro-
nance. Suddenly, one after another half
a dozen athletic, square shouldered men,
varying in age from /, TO p, crept through
the narrow archway. passed rapidly in
without even glanCing at our table and
massed themselves at the end of the vault,
lolling on the benches, smoking cigarettes
and drinking at our expense, for We
thought it only polite to offer these gentle
men glass of wine. the more SO as the
musicians We're playing for our amuse-
ment.
After .'Mignon'' the ruffian with the
red fez asked for the guitar. took tuning
fork out Of mis- pocket, snapped it with his
teeth. and tuned the instrument properly.
Then the ruffian in the cotton blouse rose
and with fine voice. perfect sentiment, and
correct gesture. sang other airs from
"Mignon" and also from Carmen All
the ruffians listened in perfect silence to
the singer. who was real artist, and two
women who had joined the band melted
into tears at the end, one of them eXciaim-
ing: "Ah. music. When hear 'MignOn'
l can't help it. ! cry like a calf. The
scene appeared to he idyllic rather than
brigandish and terrible. However, it ap-
peared after after all that We might have
been in better company, fEr at a sign from
the waiter | slipped out Of the vault.
You had better give the word TO your
friends 10 come up stairs. The band is
almost au complet and it is the very band
that assassinated man here last week
If their chief happens to come in you
might get in trouble" We did not wait
TO he warned twice. but wished the gen
tlemen good evening, and assembled the
staircase without undue precipitation, and
yet with u kind of internal sensation Of
rapidity. Cor. New York sun.